A Tangled Web by Lucy Maud Montgomery

One grey November evening Gay carried home a letter from Noel. When the postmaster had handed it out to her, her heart had given a suffocating bound, as it would do, she thought, if she were buried underground and Noel walked by her grave. It was a long time since she had had a letter from him. A long time since she had seen him-- not since that bitter night at the Silver Slipper. She did not even hear much about him--her clan were surprisingly considerate in regard to that. Almost too considerate. Their avoidance of all reference to Noel was too pointed. Gay knew what it meant when everybody stopped talking as she entered a room. It hurt her--or her pride. For she had still some pride left in which she tried pitifully to wrap herself from what she thought was the half- pitying, half-contemptuous gaze of her little world. She felt as if every one must be watching her to see how she took it--watching her around corners--behind window-blinds--across the church.

And she had still a tormenting secret hope that all would come right yet. Noel MUST have loved her. It couldn't have been all pretence. He was just bewitched by Nan's daring and "differentness" and bold coquetry--by the way she could use her eyes. What if--Gay caught her breath as she hurried along--what if this letter were to tell her he had come to his senses--what if it were asking her to forgive him and take him back? Why else should he have written at all?